Katsuji Matsumoto
|location = Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan |deathdate = |deathplace = Izu, Shizuoka, Japan |nationality = Japanese |area = illustrator, comics creator, designer |notable works = Kurukuru Kurumi-chan The Mysterious Clover }} was a Japanese illustrator and shōjo manga artist. , his legal given name, pronounced the same, was written in kanji, .Uchida, Shizue ( ), ed. (2006) , p. 121. Kawade Shobō Shinsha. ISBN 4-309-72751-4|group=nb}} Matsumoto's 16-page The Mysterious Clover (1934) is recognized as a pioneering work in the field of manga,Natsume, Fusanosuke (夏目房之介) (2006) Mainichi Shimbun, May 30.Thorn, Matt (2008) "The Multi-Faceted Universe of Shōjo Manga", presented at Le manga, 60 ans après..., Paris, March 15. but he is best known for his shōjo manga Kurukuru Kurumi-chan, serialized from 1938 to 1940, and again from 1949 to 1954.Matsumoto, Katsuji (1987) Kurukuru Kurumi-chan ( ) Vol. 1. Tokyo: Kokusho Kankoukai ( ), ISBN 9784336022776.Matsumoto, Katsuji (1987) Kurukuru Kurumi-chan ( ) Vol. 2. Tokyo: Kokusho Kankoukai ( ), ISBN 9784336022783. His illustrations were popular from the 1930s through the 1950s, and he contributed illustrations to numerous popular girls' novels by some of the period's most famous authors, including Yasunari Kawabata and Nobuko Yoshiya."Katsuji Matsumoto's World" (Matsumoto Katsuji no Sekai 松本かつぢの世界), the official web site maintained by the Matsumoto estate: http://katsudi.com/katsudiinfo1.html. (Accessed September 2, 2008).Thorn, Matt (2006) "Pre-World War II Shōjo Manga and Illustrations." http://matt-thorn.com/shoujo_manga/prewar_shoujo/index.html. (Accessed September 2, 2008). He was also a prolific illustrator of children's books and created merchandise for babies, small children, and girls. The Gallery Katsuji Matsumoto in Tokyo is managed by his surviving children. Early life and professional debut Matsumoto was born in Kobe, the son of Toraji ( ) and Ishi ( ) Matsumoto, but moved with his family to Tokyo at the age of eight. At the age of 13, he began attending what was then called Rikkyō (St. Paul's) Middle School. referred to what would today be considered an academically elite high school or "prep school."Uchida, Shizue ( ), the Yayoi Museum ( ) (2005) , pp. 18-19. Tokyo: Kawade Shobō Shinsha ( ) ISBN 4-309-72742-5.|group=nb}} Through the introduction of a teacher at Rikkyō, Matsumoto began drawing illustrations for the magazine at the age of 17. Matsumoto withdrew from Rikkyō at the age of 18 and began attending the . During this time he contributed drawings to such magazines as and . It was during this period that Matsumoto was inspired by illustrator Kōji Fukiya to become an illustrator in the field of girls' media. Hiramatsu, Yoshiyuki ( ), ed. (1985, revised 1996) , p. 19. Tokyo: Sanrio. (Matsumoto's younger sister, Ryōko ( ), would eventually marry Fukiya. Uchida, Shizue ( ), ed. (2006) , p. 92. Kawade Shobō Shinsha. ISBN 4-309-72751-4) Following the devastation of Tokyo, including its publishing industry, in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, Matsumoto decided to try his fortunes overseas, and managed to obtain free passage to Shanghai.Uchida, Shizue ( ), ed. (2006) , pp. 94, 121. Kawade Shobō Shinsha. ISBN 4-309-72751-4 His hope was to eventually make his way to Paris. In Shanghai, he earned money by contributing illustrations and articles to the , but when he turned twenty years of age, he was forced to return to Japan to report for the draft. He was rejected for military service because he was flat footed. Early career and marriage Matsumoto's first forum for steady work was the magazine , to which he contributed from 1928 to 1938.Uchida, Shizue ( ), ed. (2006) , pp. 124-125. Kawade Shobō Shinsha. ISBN 4-309-72751-4 Matsumoto first ventured into manga in Shōjo Gahō, creating a series of illustrated narratives featuring a lively Chinese girl named Poku-chan, which was irregularly published between November 1930 and March 1934. The Poku-chan strips were drawn in a stylized, almost abstract, Art Deco manner. Matsumoto could draw in a wide range of styles, from the realistic to the near-abstract, but all of his work was distinguished by clean, almost geometrical lines and a strictly Modern sensibility. While he illustrated numerous dramatic girls' novels, his style was better suited to sunny, playful, or humorous work. In 1935, Matsumoto began to work for the magazine that would become his primary forum, . Shōjo no tomo, with its modern, stylish image, was the ideal magazine for Matsumoto.Endoh, Hiroko (遠藤寛子) (2004) pp. 55-59 Tokyo:Honnoizumisha (本の泉社) ISBN 978-4880238210 In 1932, at the age of 28, Matsumoto was wed to Ayako Nimori ( ). They went on to have seven children (four boys, three girls) together. Because Ayako was an only child, the decision was made to have the firstborn male child legally adopted by her parents in order to carry on the Nimori name. On official records, therefore, Ki Nimori ( , born 1933) is listed as the younger brother of Ayako, and therefore the brother-in-law of Matsumoto.Under the [[Ie (Japanese family system)|Japanese ie family system]] that was the law of the land prior to the end of World War II, it was common in cases where there was no male heir for a groom to be legally adopted by his bride's parents and become the successor to her family name. Since Katsuji was himself the eldest son of and successor to the Matsumoto family, this was not an option.Details regarding Matsumoto's parents, exact date of birth and date of death, education, children, publication history of Kurukuru Kurumi-chan, atelier activities, and personality and habits were provided to Matt Thorn in three personal e-mails from Matsumoto's daughter Michie Utsuhara (宇津原充地栄), dated July 22, 23, and 28, 2008. These facts can be verified by Ms. Utsuhara, who is President of Mastumoto Katsuji Art Promotion, Inc. The telephone/fax number is +81-3-3707-3503, and the address is 4-14-18 Tamagawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 158-0094, Japan. She can be reached by e-mail at info@katsudi.com Major works The Mysterious Clover In 1934, Matsumoto drew his first full-fledged manga, a 16-page story titled . Printed as an over-sized pamphlet with a sturdy cardboard cover, and included as a premium in the April issue of Shōjo no tomo, The Mysterious Clover was a variation on The Scarlet Pimpernel and Zorro. The protagonist of The Mysterious Clover is a young girl who protects the poor peasants from the cruel and greedy nobles. This work is remarkable for its use of varying angles, including bird's-eye views, and variation in the size of panels. Sakō Shishido ( ), influenced by American newspaper strips, had used similar techniques in his 1930 , but in a far cruder drawing style than Matsumoto's.Shishido, Sakoh ( ) (1988) , Tokyo: San'ichi shobō ( ), ISBN 978-4380885495 The Mysterious Clover had been neglected for decades by manga scholars until it was displayed at a 2006 exhibition at the Yayoi Art Museum, where it caught the eye of Fusanosuke Natsume, who then wrote about it on his blog and in a newspaper column. Kurukuru Kurumi-chan Matsumoto's most famous work is his manga Kurukuru Kurumi-chan ( ),"Kurukuru"-- --means "spinning" or "winding", "-chan"-- --is a diminutive honorific that can be translated as "little" or "dear".Uchida, Shizue ( ), ed. (2006) , p. 24. Kawade Shobō Shinsha. ISBN 4-309-72751-4 which was serialized in Shōjo no tomo from January 1938 until December 1940. Featuring the daily antics of a little girl named Kurumi ( , meaning "walnut"), each episode was a self-contained story, usually running 4 pages and 22 panels. The strip rarely ventured far from everyday reality, and was characterized by a gradually building absurdity that rarely descended to simple slapstick. In the earliest episodes, Kurumi-chan is roughly four heads tall, and would seem to be roughly nine or ten years old. Over the years, though, Kurumi's proportions changed, until by the 1950s she had become an extremely stylized character no more than two heads high, and of unknown age. The strip was revived after the war in the magazine Shōjo ("Girl") under the title Kurumi-chan and ran from November 1949 to February 1954.Uchida, Shizue ( ), ed. (2006) , p. 122. Tokyo: Kawade Shobō Shinsha. ISBN 4-309-72751-4 Book illustrations While working on Kurukuru Kurumi-chan, Matsumoto continued to do freestanding illustrations, in both color and black and white, and also to illustrate girls' fiction and poetry. Matsumoto was one of the most popular and influential illustrators working in girls' media, and he continued to be a popular illustrator through the early 1950s.Kondoh, Tomie ( ), supervising editor (1992) , p. 47. Tokyo: Gakken ( ).Takahashi, Yohji ( ), ed. (1984) , p. 36. Bessatsu Taiyō ( ) series, Tokyo: Heibonsha ( ) ISBN 978-4582920470. He worked with such prominent Japanese authors and poets as Nobuko Yoshiya and Yaso Saijō, and adapted many works by non-Japanese author's, including Katherine Mansfield's short story The Doll's House, to the short-lived genre of .Hiramatsu, Yoshiyuki ( ), ed. (1985, revised 1996) , pp. 34-48. Tokyo: Sanrio. Although Matsumoto drew in a wide range of styles, certain features remain consistent. His characters have an air of intelligence without melancholy, and of cheerful optimism that is never saccharine. Other popular illustrators of the day were better suited to the niches in which Matsumoto was not in his element. The multi-talented and enormously popular Jun'ichi Nakahara ( ) drew girls who were intelligent and stylish, but humor was not his forte.Yanase, Takashi ( ), supervising editor (1986) , p. 54. Tokyo: Sanrio ISBN 4-387-86065-0. In the genre of sentimental melodrama, according to Akiko Horiguchi, no one was more popular than Hiroshi Katsuyama (勝山ひろし).Horiuchi, Akiko ( ), ed. (2003) , p. 36. Tokyo: Kawade Shobō Shinsha ( ). ISBN 4-309-72732-8 But in an age when print media of all kinds were becoming increasingly visual, there was plenty of work to go around.Yonezawa, Yoshihiro ( ), ed. (1991) , p. 36. Bessatsu Taiyō ( ) series, Tokyo: Heibonsha ( ) ISBN 978-4582942392. Children's books and infant merchandise In 1955, Matsumoto abandoned manga altogether. Although he continued to do illustration work in a variety of styles, his focus shifted to the kind of hyper-stylized, wryly adorable character epitomized by the later Kurumi-chan. His target audience accordingly shifted from preteen and low-teen girls to toddlers and young mothers. In addition to illustrating new and original children's books, Matsumoto illustrated numerous classics, including Little Red Riding Hood (1955), Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book (1959, translated by Yasunari Kawabata), and various other collections of classic Japanese and European fairy tales.Hiramatsu, Yoshiyuki ( ), ed. (1985, revised 1996) , pp. 81−89. Tokyo: Sanrio. In 1960, Matsumoto founded Katsu Productions ( ), which specialized in illustrations for infants and toddlers and designing various infant merchandise. This merchandise was spectacularly popular. Amateur manga scholar and blogger "lacopen" commented that "When I was a child, baby goods were all the rage, so much so that it is no exaggeration to say they were everywhere."lacopen blog βversion His designs for the infant merchandise company known originally as "Sanshin. Inc." were perhaps the mostly widely consumed and recognized, and it has been suggested that the company changed its name to CombiCombi Corporation (2004) Corporate History Retrieved on August 26, 2008 ( , which comes from the English "combination" and is used in Japanese to mean "duo") in response to the popularity of the infant duo, "Haamu" ( ) and "Monii" ( ), created by Matsumoto and featured on a wide array of the company's products.Uchida, Shizue ( ), ed. (2006) , pp. 68-69. Kawade Shobō Shinsha. ISBN 4-309-72751-4 Retirement and death In 1971, now in his late 60s, Matsumoto built an atelier, in Kamishiraiwa ( on the Izu Peninsula, where he turned his creative talents from the modern and cosmopolitan to the traditional and provincial. Using the bamboo that was so plentiful in the area, he designed a variety of toys and objects that could easily be reproduced by the local farmers to sell as souvenirs. For this work, Matsumoto was given a commendation by the Shizuoka Prefectural government.Uchida, Shizue ( ), ed. (2006) , p. 120. Tokyo: Kawade Shobō Shinsha. ISBN 4-309-72751-4 Although these works seem strikingly at odds with Matsumoto's cosmopolitan image, he in fact had always had an eye for the traditional, and was particularly fond of collecting carefully selected Japanese and Korean pottery and furniture. Modern or traditional, Western or Eastern, the common thread that runs through Matsumoto's aesthetic sense, and his work, is an appreciation of that which is refined, simple, elegant, and unpretentious.Uchida, Shizue ( ), ed. (2006) , pp. 74-75. Kawade Shobō Shinsha. ISBN 4-309-72751-4 In 1986, Matsumoto suffered the last of a series of strokes, and was hospitalized, never to fully regain consciousness again. The stylish Matsumoto had been famously fastidious throughout his life, and his daughter, Meiko, has written that she was startled to notice that on his hospital bed, where Matsumoto lay unconscious and barely responsive, he had been using his remaining good hand to remove the pills that had formed on the old hospital blanket. Furthermore, although doctors said he had lost his sight, Matsumoto would open his eyes, and, as if looking in a mirror, would straighten the hairs of his mustache with his fingers as he had habitually done for years.Matsumoto, Meiko (松本明子) (2008) June 16. Matsumoto died at the age of 81. His cremated remains are interred in the Fuji Cemetery in Gotemba, Shizuoka, at the foot of Mount Fuji. Estate Matsumoto's children, in addition to Ki Nimori, are, in order of birth: Ikki Matsumoto ( , born 1935, currently living in the U.S.A.); Rumi O'Brien ( , born 1937, also living in the U.S.A.); Motoi Matsumoto ( , born 1939); Ken Matsumoto ( , born 1941, deceased); Meiko Matsumoto ( , born 1943); and Michie Utsuhara ( , born 1945). Two of the first successful female shōjo manga artists of the postwar period, Toshiko Ueda and Setsuko Tamura, were his apprentices. Michie, Matsumoto's youngest child, along with several of her siblings and Matsumoto's grandchildren, manages the Gallery Katsuji Matsumoto ( ), soon to be renamed the Katsuji Matsumoto Archives ( ), the official Katsuji Matsumoto website and its on-line shop, and also writes " . The gallery is located at 4-14-18 Tamagawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 158-0094. Footnotes References Further reading *Shimonaka, Kunihiko (下中邦彦), ed. (1979) , Tokyo: Heibonsha ( ). External links *Matsumoto Katsuji no Sekai (松本かつぢの世界, "Katsuji Matsumoto's World"--Official web site maintained by the Matsumoto estate) *Thorn, Matt (2006) "Pre-World War II Shōjo Manga and Illustrations" matt-thorn.com Category:1904 births Category:1986 deaths Category:Children's book illustrators Category:Japanese illustrators Category:Manga artists Category:People from Kobe ja:松本かつぢ